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20 YouTube Covers Of David Bowie's Space Oddity Mashed Into One

20 YouTube Covers Of David Bowie's Space Oddity Mashed Into One

David Bowie now joins a steadily growing crowd of seminal musicians from rock's golden age whose work on earth is finished.

I picture him jamming alongside Lennon, Hendrix and Miles at the Great Gig in The Sky. Freddie Mercury drops in for a duet. Lemmy orders another round.

Meanwhile back on earth, music has certainly changed. And so has the way we create, listen to, and share our love for it.

Immediately upon learning of Bowie's death, I reached for my phone (actually it was already in my hand) and listened to Space Oddity, the first Bowie track I ever heard as a kid.

I then started clicking though the numerous cover versions of the song posted on YouTube (all prior to his death).

The impressive power of a great song to transcend barriers: age, sex, language, ethnicity, was immediately evident.

I was also struck by the emotional range demonstrated in the various covers -- from sad and reflective, to charging and powerful.

What none of the YouTubers knew at the time though, was they would all be unwitting participants in another great jam, celebrating a musical hero.

The video above presents 20 of those YouTube covers mashed into a single, united rendition of the classic song.

It features guitars, bass, ukuleles, pianos, a mellotron, a harp - and many great voices.

Thanks David Bowie for inspiring people to pick up a musical instrument and sing.

Planet Earth is blue now that you are gone, but clearly better off for having had you among us.

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